Philips Magnavox Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution Trigger Happy - Manual (Page 76)

Trigger Happy
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ravenous yellow disc being chased by ghosts. In
generic RPGs, however, character is not merely a
pretext to the gameplay, but part of it. Character is
defined by talents, strength, cunning and even certain
psychological traits, measured strictly quantitatively in
points. Whereas the player is constantly getting killed
in shoot-’em-ups, the survival and growth of an RPG
character, the acquisition of new skills, are paramount.
(Because of this emphasis on character, the RPG is the
nexus of developments in what is called “interactive
storytelling,” of which more later.)
Donkey Kong designer Shigeru Miyamoto’s Zelda
games are all RPGs. Even his phenomenal Legend of
Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) is one, although on the
surface it is a seminal 3D exploration game, because
the character the player controls learns more about his
past and acquires numerous new skills according to his
success in the gameworld. One of the most
revolutionary home-computer games of the 1980s,
Elite, is usually thought of as an early 3D space game.
But it is just as much an RPG too, in that success
depends on carving out a career, over a period of
several real-world weeks or months, as an intergalactic
trader in minerals or narcotics. RPGs are the single
most popular genre of videogame in Japan, and